


Love is Soundless

by multifandom_fanatic



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 5SOS - Freeform, ASL, AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Music Store, American Sign Language, Angst, Bromance, Cake, Cake 5sos - Freeform, Deaf, Deaf Character, Drama, Fanfiction, Fluff, Hard of Hearing, M/M, Music Store, Romance, Sign Language, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 22:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4409813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandom_fanatic/pseuds/multifandom_fanatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum Hood is suffering a disease that causes him to lose hearing in one ear. Now that Calum is considered  hard of hearing, he wants to live his dream and learn how to play the bass guitar before he becomes completely Deaf. Luke Hemmings is the newbie worker at the music store in town. When the two meet, it's love at first sight. But with Calum losing his hearing, will Luke really be able to handle everything it entails to have a Deaf boyfriend? Or will he leave Calum brokenhearted and alone in the quiet world around him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi readers!
> 
> So, this is my second actual 5sos fanfic, and this time it's a Cake! I've done lots of oneshots, and my first 5sos fanfic (I Just Want To Call You Mine) was a success, so thank you to anyone who read it! This new story is going to be completely different to anything I've ever written. There will be signing throughout the story. At the moment, I'm describing each sign, but if people want it written differently I will change it up. I won't put too many signs in each chapter, as I don't want to overwhelm you all. I think that's all I have to say. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think and if you want more! Please leave comments, kudos, and fan me :)
> 
> ~ Sophie xxx

Chapter One

 

Calum's POV

I sigh, letting the music swirl around and absorb into my ear that isn't pushed into my pillow. Not that it matters; my right ear is pretty useless now. Listening to the music made me reminisce to when this all began.

\---------

It started when I was twelve. I suffered from episodes of pressure and ringing in my ears, and dizziness. I pushed through it for several months, hiding it from my family.

It was when I passed out in front of my parents, when the dizziness was so strong I couldn't hold on anymore; that they found out something was wrong.

They took me straight to the ER, and I finally confessed and told the doctors everything that I was suffering. They immediately performed a special hearing test on me, performed an MRI, and traced my medical history through my family.

When it was clear that no one else in my family had been diagnosed with anything similar, and they ruled out any other possibilities, it was then that the doctors diagnosed me with Meniere's disease.

It was kind of a shock to the doctors. We were told that it was rare for younger people to have this disease. It usually affected adults, not teenagers. Unfortunately it was something I would have to deal with for the rest of my life.

They then explained the attacks I would have. How I would have the feelings of pressure in my ear, hearing loss, loss of balance, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness that could last for a few minutes up to a few hours long.

When I went home, everything changed. I had to avoid caffeine and large amounts of sodium. Since there is no cure for the disease, I was prescribed drugs that would help me deal with the symptoms.

I was prescribed tablets for the nausea, vomiting, and balance issues, capsules daily to reduce the amount of fluids my body retains in order to relieve pressure in my ears, and pills everyday to try to help treat the disease overall.

I dealt with the symptoms, took my drugs, and tried to live my life as normally as possible. When I was fourteen, it changed for the worse.

The episodes had been happening, and my right ear was more affected then my left. One day, the episode didn't end, and my family rushed me to the hospital once again.

After more testing, it turned out I was suffering a severe case of the disease, and the reason I was still having the attack was because my hearing in my right ear was disappearing.

It was only a couple weeks after that attack that I completely lost my hearing in my right ear. I had spent those last two weeks doing everything I could with my hearing, knowing I was losing it.

Once it was gone completely in my right ear, I spent the next two months living in the hospital, as the doctors ran test after test. I had a special hearing doctor break the news to me that I was now considered hard of hearing.

It was then I was offered the chance to learn ASL, or American Sign Language, as I was now considered part of the Deaf community. ASL was the only official language for Deaf people, and therefore was something I thought was important to learn. My parents were hesitant with the idea.

When the doctors brought back the results of the testing and broke the news to us that the disease would extend to both of my ears in the future, and that I would be completely Deaf, my parents agreed to let me learn sign language.

I spent the next year and a half bouncing between a special class that taught people and their families how to sign, and the hospital.

By the time the classes were over, my parents, my sister, and I, were all fluent in ASL. I had come to accept that this was the life I was going to lead now, and that I couldn't let it stop me from living my life to the fullest.

I decided to stay in school, and balance out my signing with my talking. My hearing loss didn't hinder my intelligence or my learning abilities, so I remained in normal classes. I was offered an interpreter, but I turned the offer down. I wanted to remain as normal as possible for as long as I could.

Some people looked at me differently. Some people even flat out avoided me, or even bullied me. I didn't care though. I had some friends who stuck by my side, and that was all that mattered.

I had learned to live with my disability, and had come to terms with the fact that some day, I would be completely Deaf.

\---------

It's been four years since I lost my hearing in my right ear. I just graduated high school a few weeks ago. I'm still debating if university is a good step for me or not. Right now, I've been focusing on learning to play the bass guitar.

My older sister, Mali Koa, was super excited when I started learning to play an instrument. She's a singer, and she's damn good at it. I think she's just excited that I'm as into music as she is.

My parents thought it was crazy that I wanted to learn to play the bass, especially because I'm losing my hearing. That was also my arguing point though. I wanted to learn to play the bass before I became totally deaf.

With some convincing and searching, my parents found me this incredible teacher. Tony, my teacher, works at a music store in town. He specializes in teaching people who have hearing problems to play musical instruments.

The most amazing thing is that he's been teaching me how to play bass, but he's also been showing me how to really feel how the guitar works. With focusing on the vibrations and the way music flows from the bass, by the time my lessons are over, I'll be able to play regardless of my impending deafness.

Learning to play bass has honestly been one of the best things that has happened to me since I found out about the disease. I've enjoyed being able to lose myself in the music I play. I've picked up on it fast, but that could be because I've been a music addict all my life.

Unlike other parents, mine let me play my music loud throughout the house. Since no one knows when I'll lose the rest of my hearing, it's just an accepted thing that I play my music loud while I can still hear it.

Right now, my music is playing loudly throughout my room. I have my right ear pressed into the pillow, since there's no point in even trying to hear with it. I have my left ear exposed, letting the music float into it, letting it wash over me.

I have my eyes closed, and I'm letting the music take me away. Sighing again, I squeeze my eyes tighter shut, and quietly sing along to the lyrics of American Idiot by Green Day.

I don't hear anyone open my door. My family knows that now though. They're very used to the rules and routines we set up together once my right ear decided to stop doing its job.

Instead, what does catch my attention is my lights flickering off and on, off and on. I crack my eyes open, and see my mum standing in the doorway, her fingers still on the light switch. She has my attention now, and that makes her smile.

My mum's eyes flick over me, and she takes in that I'm lying on my right side. Of course, she knew I must have had my left ear not buried in the pillow if I wanted to hear my music. But it's routine for her to check if I can hear or not.

I grab the remote next to me, and switch my music off. Mum gives me an approving nod. She knows I can hear her now if she wants to talk, but instead she decides to sign to me.

The first thing she signs she puts her left palm out flat, palm facing the wall, makes a thumbs up with her right hand, tilts it right so her thumb is facing the wall, places the thumbs up on her palm, and bounces it down her flat hand. The sign for lesson.

Next, she puts her palm out flat facing me, as if she was giving a high-five. The sign for your.

After that, she closes her fist together, brings her index finger up in a hook like a pirate, and taps it on her wrist where her watch is. The sign for time.

Finally, she closes her fist together, puts her index finger out, brings it to her forehead (her hand facing inward), and drags it away in a flicking motion. The sign for for.

In ASL order, that was 'lesson your time for'. In English, that translated to 'time for your lesson'.

I smiled and nodded. I formed my hand into the letter 'o' and then moved my hand into a peace sign, titled it sideways and rested my thumb in between my pointer and middle finger to create the letter 'k'. Together, it was the fingerspelled way of saying ok.

I then nodded and mouthed 'thank you' as I didn't particularly feel like signing thank you. I'd have to move my head to sign it properly, and I wasn't in the mood for the effort.

Mum gave me a nod and left to let me get ready. The good thing about my family knowing signing was that it was easy for me to sign in ASL to them, which has it's own grammar rules, or I could do what's called pigeon signing, which is signing everything in English order. It was nice to be able to flick between the two whenever I felt like it.

I lay on my bed for a couple more minutes, letting my thoughts of music tumble around. Finally, jumping off my bed, I grabbed my snapback off the counter, and picked up a couple guitar picks and slid them into my wallet. Putting the wallet into my pocket, I made my way downstairs to grab my car keys.

Seeing my keys in the pile in the hall, I grabbed them and made my way to the kitchen to say bye to my mum. I slid up to her so my left side was next to her, so I could hear her talk to me.

"Have fun, sweetie. Dinners at 7:30. I'm making spaghetti so don't be late. I mean it, Calum Thomas Hood," she said, leaning up to kiss my cheek.

"I wouldn't dare be late, not when you're making my favorite," I teased back, kissing her head before turning and walking to the garage. I turned back at the last second and called back to my mum. She turned and looked at me. "I love you," I said to her.

"Love you, too, Cal," she replied, rolling her eyes but smiling at me nonetheless.

With a grin on my face, I turned and grabbed my bass from next to the door where I left it a couple days ago and made my way out to my car.

I walked out to my black Suzuki Alto and put the bass in the back seat. My car wasn't anything special, it was cheap and easy to run, and that was all that mattered to me.

I climbed in and turned my music on quietly so it filled the air with noise. I liked there to be something in the background, but I liked having most of my hearing for focusing on driving.

I pulled out of the driveway and made my way to the music store downtown. It was only twenty-minute drive, which wasn't too bad at all. I've has my lessons for about a month and a half now. I go three times a week for three hours a session. Sometimes I wish it were longer. Any time I'm playing my bass is the highlight of my day.

Sometimes I like to get to the store early so I can wander around and look at all the instruments. I guess so could say I'm just fascinated by music. I knew all the employees that worked at the store, and they were all welcoming to me.

I pulled up and parked outside of the store a few minutes early. Grabbing my guitar case, I walked into the store with a grin.

Steve, the store manager, gave me a nod as I walked past him. I nodded and sent him a smile back. I said hi to Veronica, high-fived James, and sent a wink at Izzy as I passed them.

I walked into the bass guitar section, and my smile grew. My bass was okay. I'd brought it secondhand from Mali's boyfriend. However, I'd had my eye on this beautiful bass in the store. It was out of my price range, though. That's why I'd been saving up. I walked past it every time I was here to make sure no one brought it.

I think Steve had noticed, because he seemed to be keeping other people from buying it. I really should thank him for it next time I pass by.

I walked up to the black bass hanging on the wall, and traced my fingers over it softly. It really was a beauty. I was so distracted by the guitar in front of me; I didn't notice someone approaching me on my right side.

Little did I know that a boy came up and asked me, "May I help you?" He waited, but I still hadn't noticed him. "Um. Excuse me? Can I help you?" he repeated, more agitated. Of course, I still didn't hear him.

He reaches out and shook my shoulder. Normal people would jump at that. I was used to people doing that though, so I just turned my head casually to the side, realizing someone mist have been trying to talk to me.

"Sorry, I'm deaf in my right ear, what'd you s..." I trailed off when I saw the gorgeous boy next to me. He was tall, really tall. His blonde hair was up in a quiff, and he had a lip ring piercing. His newbie nametag was slightly tilted, and it said his name was Luke. I was immediately drawn to him. Hot damn. I'd never had this happen before, but I was instantaneously attracted to him. Luke. Oh crap, what was I about to get myself in to?


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calum and Luke formally meet, however, Calum has an attack that sets them back a little. Or maybe it doesn't. During Calum's bass lesson he manages to worm some information about Luke out of his instructor. After the lesson is over, he goes to find Luke, but things don't exactly go the way Calum is expecting them to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi readers!
> 
> I am speechless that so many people have liked this story so far! I apologize for taking so long to post this chapter, my summer has been filled with lots of travel. I am planning to update once a week, on the weekends. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think! Please leave comments, kudos, and subscribe :)
> 
> ~ Sophie xxx

Chapter Two

I froze, the rest of my sentence feeling heavy on my tongue. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and Luke cocked his head to the side, regarding me carefully. Everything seemed to slow down for a few beats, before snapping back to normal.

"I'm sorry- I'm- um, I'm Luke," Luke breathed out, extending his hand to me. His nervous stutter made me smile. God, did I mention how gorgeous he was? Because, if I didn't, then I'm going to say it now. God damn, he's like an angel, with all the beauty and appeal.

I reached out and shook his hand. "Calum. I mean, my name's Calum," I said. Wow. Way to be suave about that. We just stood there, our hands locked together. I couldn't bring myself to let go of his hand, and he seemed to share my thoughts.

Luke finally coughed nervously, and dropped my hand. He pulled his lip ring into his mouth and started to chew on it out of nerves. Holy shit. If that wasn't the hottest thing I'd ever seen, then shoot me now.

"Did you- erm- help. Shit. I mean- did you need any help... with the guitar I mean. Not with..." he broke off, shaking his head. "I'm not normally this incoherent, I swear."

I flashed him a grin. "I'd say I'm not always so deaf, but that'd be a lie, because I am," I tried cracking a joke, but as soon as I said it, it fell flat, leaving the space between us awkward and heavy. Way to fuck that up, dickhead.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't- I had no idea. I didn't mean to be so rude," Luke replied.

I shook my head, as if to disregard what he said. "You weren't rude. That's how people normally treat me. It's no big deal. What I meant to say was, I'm deaf in my right ear. I can only hear with my left, so it's better to be on my left side if you want to talk to me," I said, smiling to reassure him.

He seemed uncertain. I internally sighed. This is why I hated my disease more than anything. No one wanted to get to know me, like they were terrified of me. Or like they'll somehow catch my disease and lose their hearing, too. I was going to lose any chance I had with Luke because of my hearing loss.

"Anyway, no, I don't need any help, I was just looking. Thanks for the offer and all. I should go see if Tony's ready for me. It was nice to meet you, Luke," I said, excusing myself.

I took a step forward, when the onset of an attack hit me with full force. My balance tipped immediately to the left, the sudden screeching and ringing reverberating within my ear. The dizziness caused me to slam my eyes shut tightly, as I let out a small gasp. 

"Calum? Calum!" Luke said urgently, rushing to take the few steps between us so he was by my side. He reached out and grabbed my arm, and I immediately shoved him away.

"Stay away from me," I said, my voice coming out harsher than I intended. I let my body sink to the floor, dragging my knees up to my chest and resting my back up against the display of guitars. I let out a ragged breath, and Luke came forward again, crouching in front of me.

Out of nowhere, Steve rounded the corner and came up to me. He dropped to his knees and handed me a bottle of water, pressing it into my hand. I squeezed my eyes shut again, and brought the bottle to my lips to take a swig.

"Luke, I need you to back up, please?" Steve directed. I could pick up the sounds, but they sounded distorted. Luke was arguing back, asking what was wrong with me, and how he wouldn't leave until he knew I was okay.

What kind of stranger says those things? He didn't know anything about me, why was he so concerned? I didn't hear what Steve said in reply, the ringing getting louder.

I felt Steve's hand pushing the water bottle closer to me again. He was trying to get me to drink more. I took his advice, and forced myself to take a couple more sips.

I swore Steve was batman or something. This wasn't the first time I'd had an attack while in the store, and every time it happened, Steve swooped in out of thin air and supplied me with water and company until the attack passed.

I felt Luke's hand reach out and gently touch my left knee. The most cliché thing happened, of course. I felt my attack start to ease off. As if his touch was calming it.

Steve moved to back Luke up again, but I stopped him by moving my hand to rest on top of Luke's, holding him in place. I thought I heard Steve chuckle, but my ear was still ringing so I couldn't be sure.

"Drink," Steve said again, his voice sounding a little clearer. I forced a couple more gulps of water back, more for Steve then for myself.

I let my head rest back against the display, taking deep breaths like the doctor had taught me. A couple more minutes passed before I felt the edges of the attack ebbing away.

I opened my eyes to see Luke propped down on the floor in front of my left side, his hand still resting on my knee. Steve was just a foot away from my left side, standing and looking down at me.

"Better?" Steve asked, his eyes locking with mine. I nodded carefully, trying not to throw my balance off again. "Feeling up for your lesson? I can talk to Tony if you need me to, not that I think you want that though?"

I cracked a small smile. Damn, Steve had me figured more than I thought he did. He knew I wouldn't let a stupid attack stop me from going to my lesson.

"I'm up for it, just tell Tony I'll be there in a few minutes," I replied. Steve nodded and started to walk away. "Steve?" I called, causing him to turn and look at me. "Thank you, again," I said to him

"It's no problem at all, Calum. Let me know if you need anything." With that, he continued on his way to Tony's office. 

I turned to look at Luke, who was staring at me, as if he was scrutinizing me. I took a deep breath before I spoke. "Sorry about all that. I have these attacks quite often, they're nothing serious. Steve's pretty good at helping me through them these days," I said, trying to explain without saying too much.

"Are you okay? What happened, exactly?" Luke spoke up, glancing away briefly, before looking at me again.

"I'm fine, really. It was nothing. I'd rather not talk about it," I snapped, my tone too harsh. Luke jerked away, his hand slipping away from my knee. I sighed. Why couldn't I just act like a normal person for two seconds?

"I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. It's just- personal stuff," I said, the excuse sounding lame to my own ears.

"No, I get it, I'm sorry. As long as you're okay, I guess," he said awkwardly, looking away from me again.

I stood up, my hand resting on the display to give me extra balance. "Great first impression, huh?" I said, chuckling and rolling my eyes at my own stupidity.

"I won't be forgetting it any time soon," Luke said, joining in my laughter. Before I could say anything else to Luke, Rebecca walked up to me. 

"Hi, Calum. Tony's waiting for you," she said with a wide smile. 

Rebecca wasn't much older than me, and she was a sweet girl. Tony was teaching her how to play the piano. She suffered a lot of mental disorders, the poor girl. She needed Tony because her hearing was disappearing. too. She was kind though, regardless of all the struggles she faced.

"Thank you, Rebecca," I said, patting her arm softly and giving her a warm smile. She blew me a kiss and skipped away.

Luke's eyebrows rose, his forehead crinkling in the most adorable way. "Is she your girlfriend or something?" he asked, a hint of a growl in his voice.

"What, Rebecca? Oh, no. She's a friend, but that's it. She just suffers a lot, and anything I can do to make her day, you know? Seeing her happy is probably one of the most beautiful things in the world to witness. She just deserves to always be smiling," I explained.

Luke's lips turned up into a gorgeous smile. "That's actually one of the sweetest things I've ever heard," he said, pulling his lip ring into his mouth to chew on it again.

I kicked the floor and grinned. "Well, thanks. Anyway, I should get to my lesson. It was nice to meet you, Luke," I said.

"The pleasure was mine, Calum. I hope to be seeing you again real soon, babe," he said, flashing me a wink, before he turned his back to me and walked off further into the store.

That did not just happen. Did he just flirt with me, or did I imagine it? I am definitely going to catch him later. Even after finding out I was hard of hearing and seeing me have an attack didn't put him off. I've got to grab him before someone else does.

Shaking my head, with a grin on my face, I picked up my bass again and walked to Tony's office. I knocked on the door before I entered. 

"Hi, Calum," Tony said from his bench. I dropped myself on the seat next to him, and said hi back. "How are you feeling? Steve told me what happened," he said softly.

I immediately signed my answer to him. I pointed my index finger to my chest. The sign for me or I.

I signed the letters O and K, forming ok. 

I hesitated before pointing my finger at my chest again, signing I. 

I then moved my index finger to my head, with my palm facing inward, and placed it just behind my forehead. The sign for think.

The signs came together to form the sentence, 'I'm okay, I think.'

"Why the hesitation?" Tony asked, picking up on my delay. At least he didn't ask the obvious question as to why I answered in signing and not speaking. Tony was smart enough to know I signed when I was feeling off. I just shrugged in response to the question he asked aloud. Tony patted my shoulder sympathetically. 

"Who's the new guy? Luke? Know anything about him?" I asked casually, trying to change the subject. Tony looked me in the eyes, before he raised his eyebrow in a teasing manner. 

"What's it to you?" he asked with a smirk, I swatted his arm playfully. For a thirty three year old, Tony acted like a teenager more times than an adult.

"I'm just curious, that's all," I said, shrugging again. Tony chuckled at that. For some reason, he knew I was more than a little curious about the new guy. 

"Alright, here's the deal. You do your lesson today, and you do well, and I'll tell you everything I know about the new guy," Tony offered.

"Do you actually know anything about him? Or is that a trick offer? I'm not going through the whole lesson to find out all you know is his name and when he started working here," I teased.

"I swear I have some information about him. Scouts honor," he replied, drawing a cross over his heart. I laughed at his childish antics.

"Okay, you have a deal. Can we start playing now?" I asked as I pulled my bass out of the case.

"Whatever you say, bossy pants," Tony replied, pulling out a couple sheets of music we had been working on the last couple weeks. We started off with me learning music that was written by famous musicians. In the last couple weeks, Tony had been teaching me some music he had created himself. I even got to show him something I had been writing in my last session.

Tony placed the music on a stand in front of me, and we ran warm-ups for the first hour. Every lesson, Tony taught me something different about how to really feel the music. Each time I learnt a new way the vibrations ran down the strings, or how even the slightest movement or placement on the fret changed the way the music sounded and felt.

During the second hour, we moved on to playing some of Tony's original work. After doing so well in the first hour, I assumed everything would go smoothly, but of course it didn't.

It started out with tiny mistakes; misplacing my fingers on the strings or not strumming right. It escalated to the point I was just flat out playing the song wrong. None of it sounded right, and the vibrations didn't feel right either.

When I played it wrong for the sixth time, Tony put his hand into my view to sign to me.

He brought his index and middle finger together and pointed them outwards. His fourth finger and pinkie bent in until they touched his palm, and his thumb rested pointed outwards under his other two fingers. He then brought his index and middle finger down to tap repeatedly against his thumb. The sign for no.

He then made a fist, and then stuck his pinkie and thumb out. He brought his hand up to his chin, palm facing inward, so that the knuckles on his three middle fingers rested against his chin. The sign for wrong.

I sighed heavily, dropping the bass into my lap in frustration. I ran my hands over my face and groaned angrily. "I'm sorry. I never-I'm..." I trailed off.

Tony shook his head. "Everyone has their off days, Calum. You had an attack earlier, it makes perfect sense that your coordination skills aren't what they usually are," he tried to soothe me.

That just made me more angry. "That's not a fucking excuse," I spat. I knocked my bass to the ground, and started pacing back and forth across the room.

"Calum. Calum, come on. Just have a seat, please?" Tony half begged. Sighing, I threw myself back down in the seat. 

"Why don't we just end our lesson early today? We can pick up where we left off in a couple days," he offered.

"No!" I half shouted. Tony winced at my tone. "Every day, every second, could be my last of hearing. I might go completely Deaf tonight. And this could be my last lesson that I can hear. I don't want to waste it like this."

Tony nodded in understanding. That was the good thing about Tony. Having been around so many hard of hearing and deaf people, he understood the struggle of losing the ability to hear, even though he didn't suffer it himself.

"Okay then. How about we just stick to some of the easier stuff today? Let's go back to other techniques for bass playing that will be useful when your Deaf," Tony offered.

I knew it was a compromise, but there wasn't much room for argument. I meant it when I said I didn't want to waste the lesson. If just learning and mastering the techniques was all I could do today, then at least it was better than nothing.

I picked up my bass and agreed to Tony's offer, and we went back to some of the basics of playing. He even taught me a new way to press my fingertips against the strings, so that the exact angle sent vibrations through my hands just right. This way I could tell when something was being played well, and when it was wrong and sounded awful.

Before I knew it Tony was signing to me again. He put both of his hands up in front of me, his palms facing inward to face himself. He then flicked his hands outwards so that his palms now faced me. The sign for done.

That was Tony's way of saying our lesson was done for the day. I let out a deep breath through my nose and nodded solemnly. Even when I had rough days like today, it always felt like a sucker punch when the lessons were over. I would have preferred to be sat playing my bass all day everyday.

When I felt a tap on my knee, I looked up at Tony. "How about something to cheer you up? I know our deal didn't quite work out liked we planned, but I'll still tell you about Luke, if you want?" he asked, quirking his eyebrow in a way that showed he knew I would still want to know.

I placed my bass in its case, then turned my full attention to Tony. "Tell me everything you know," I said, positioning myself on the seat so my left side was facing towards him.

"Okay, so, his name is Luke Hemmings. He got a job here 4 days ago, because he's Steve's neighbor. Apparently, Luke is majorly into music, and is a fantastic guitar player. I've never heard him play, but Steve says he's amazing.

"He offered Luke a job here a couple weeks ago, when Luke turned 18. I've talked to him a couple of times. He comes across as shy, but once you start to talk to him he really opens up.

"He actually loves a lot of the same bands you do, now that I think about it. He's a huge fan of Green Day, Blink 182, and All Time Low. He's got two older brothers, but he didn't say much about them. I'm assuming they’re in Uni.”

"He's been in a couple of bands, according to Steve, but none of them really worked out. And apparently he goes out and plays small solo gigs. And from what I've gathered, he's also a singer, so he sings and plays guitar at his gigs," Tony explained.

I nodded slowly, taking in all the information that Tony was giving me. Everything he was telling me just made Luke seem even more attractive. There was just one piece of information that I still needed to know, and I felt Tony knew the answer. 

"And?" I asked, catching the smirk that was plastered on Tony's face.

"From what I can pick up, I think he's interested in guys," he said with a knowing look.

I let out the breath I had been holding on to. Tony grinned at me, and I shook my head.

"Steve might have mentioned some interactions he noticed between the two you. You have a real shot here, kid. I think he's interested in you. I say go for it," he said earnestly.

I flashed Tony an honest smile before I stood up. "Thank you, Tony. I owe you big time," I said.

"Just practice at home and be ready for our next session and I'll call us even," he replied, packing up his things.

"Deal. See you in a few days," I said, grabbing my case and heading for the door.

"See you soon, Calum," he called as I left the office. I walked out with a bounce in my step. I felt even more confident now than I had earlier. Tony's words of encouragement had given me courage.

I set off with a purpose, walking through the store in search of Luke. As I was searching, I ran into Izzy.

"Hey, Iz," I called, grabbing her attention. She turned away from the customer she was talking with to glance at me. "Have you seen Luke lately?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's with a customer in the guitar section," she answered. I gave her a nod in thanks, and walked towards the guitar section. It was probably a bad thing I knew every inch of this store by memory. It came in handy though, so I wasn't complaining.

I walked through the violins and bass guitars, and rounded the corner into the guitar section. I saw the back of a blonde head and I knew instantly it was Luke.

I smiled even wider and started to walk closer towards him. When I got within ear shot, I froze. I took in all the details around me, and it all clicked into place.

It was Luke, and he was with a customer. The other boy, who looked around my age, was standing very close to Luke. The other boy had jet black hair, with streaks of rainbow colors throughout. He was wearing all black with a leather jacket, which gave him this punk sort of vibe. The punk look was completed with an eyebrow piercing on his right eyebrow.

The other boy said something that I couldn't quite hear, and Luke burst out laughing. He cocked his head slightly to the side, batted his eyelashes a few times, and licked his lips, before pulling his lip ring into his mouth to chew on it.

The other boy reached out and placed his hand on Luke's arm, and Luke smiled brightly at the other boy. Luke leaned into the touch, and said something lowly to the other boy. He smiled and chuckled, winking at Luke as he laughed.

The flirting was obvious. So obvious I felt like my entire body could blow up from the sickening feeling it left in my mouth. It didn't matter whether or not Luke liked this other boy. What did matter, was that his flirting meant nothing. He had flirted with me just like he was flirting with this guy. I was nothing special. He clearly felt nothing towards me.

Flirting was just some tactic he used to draw people in, and to convince them to buy something. It was all a damn play, and I had bought every second of it. Why had I been so damn stupid to even think for half a second a guy like Luke would even look at a person like me for more than a split second?

I had been drawn into his flirtatious acts. Why did I believe that I was the only one Luke has his eyes on? Clearly, he was far more interested in this guy than he was in me. Everything I thought was a sign he was interested in me, was just an act he used on everyone.

I guess Tony was wrong. Sure, Luke was interested in guys, but I didn't have a shot. He wasn't even the least bit interested in me. He was obviously just the player type who would flirt with any guy that walked past him.

Go for it, my ass. I'll tell you exactly what I'm going for, the goddamn fucking door. I spun on my heel and stormed away. Two can play at this game, Hemmings. You won't think for another second that I'm the least bit interested in you. Even though something in the back of my mind was telling me I was.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calum is furious when he sees Luke flirting with another man. He even ends up taking his anger out on his family and best friend, Ashton. However, Ashton is more than willing to hear his best friend out, and offer him some advice. He might even have an idea or two up his sleeve to help Calum get just a little more than revenge on Luke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi readers!
> 
> I am so sorry to anyone who is reading this that it has taken me like two months to write this chapter. I know I said I was going to update once a week, but I had no idea just how much work this semester of college would be for me. I'm going to try my hardest to spend more time writing this story. With that being said, I'm really proud of this chapter so I hope you all like it. Please leave comments and kudos and let me know what you think/if you like it!
> 
> ~ Sophie xxx

Chapter Three

I threw my bass into the back seat and slammed the door closed so hard the whole car shook. I got into the front and let out a scream, pounding my fists against the wheel. Sucking in a deep breath, I clenched my teeth and turned the car on.

I immediately sunk into autopilot, reversing the car and just driving. More often than not I vented my anger by driving. Unfortunately, I had never felt fury like this before. I wasn't even upset over what I had just seen. I was absolutely beyond livid.

Before I knew it, I was at the Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest. This was always the place I came to when I needed to relax. When I had first found out about my disease I was so upset I walked the five miles from my house to the forest so that I could properly forget and not pay heed to the emotions that we're threatening to burst out of me.

Now that I had a car, I drove over fairly frequently and wandered the paths until I felt better. Parking the car, I got out and pushed myself one step after the other to walk one of my favorite paths under the trees and into the forest.

I kicked at stones and leaves in my tracks, taking out my anger on the inanimate objects in my way. After ten minutes of walking, I spotted my usual bench. I collapsed onto it and dropped my head down into my hands.

Usually being here instantly made me feel better, safer in a way. But today, I just felt out of place, like the rage burning inside me didn't belong in such a serene and beautiful place. And that just made me feel even madder.

I grinded my teeth together and let my breathe puff out of my nose. My eyes flittered across the scenery in front of me, and I wished more than anything the natural beauty of wildlife would take my resentment away.

I didn't feel like going home. I knew mum would be upset that I missed dinner when I said I wouldn't, but she always left me a plate and put it into the microwave for whenever I wanted it. She would know when I did finally show up home that things had gone badly for me.

It was like her sixth sense or something. She has the ability to look at me and just know that I'm angry or upset or even frustrated, and know what has caused my mood to spiral so quickly.

I'm sure it would be a dead giveaway the second she saw me tonight what had happened, and I really wasn't in the mood to talk about it. With that in mind, I got back up and continued to follow the path deeper into the forest.

Not facing my family meant I just had to waste the rest of my day wandering around here. I could show up home just before everyone went to sleep, and I wouldn't have to face anyone.

So that's exactly what I did. I spent over two hours walking the paths, trying and failing to push the thoughts and anger out of my head. By the time I got back to my car the moon had long since made its journey up into the sky and my mood hadn't improved in the slightest.

I sat in the car for a minute, debating even driving home. That was a terrible thought though, my mum would throw a fit if I didn't. I know my parents let me get away with more than I should, because they understand that I'm experiencing as much as I can as my hearing slowly dwindles away.

With those thoughts, I pushed my key into the ignition and made my way home. I showed up at the house way too soon for my liking. I parked my car on the street outside of the front door. As I got out I hesitated with my hand on the back door handle. Shaking my head, I opened the door and picked up my bass.

Walking up the front path, I quietly unlocked the door and stepped into the dark house. I smirked to myself as I placed my bass by the staircase. It was almost midnight, so it looked like the rest of my family was asleep.

I made the decision that I would go talk to Mali tomorrow if I could get a lid on some of this anger. Right now I just wanted to grab something to eat and head up to my room and be by myself.

My day was not going the way I wanted it to though, so I'm not sure why I assumed it would be so easy to just slip in unnoticed tonight.

As I approached the kitchen I noticed the low lights were on. Shit. "Calum?" a voice called out into the still air. Fuck. Of course my mum had waited up for me. If there's one thing anyone should know, Joy Hood is the most determined and persistent woman on this earth.

Gritting my teeth, I continued my path into the kitchen. "Yes, mum?" I asked stiffly. I kept my back to her as I moved towards the microwave to grab my plate of food.

"It's on the counter behind you," she replied evenly.

I sighed. Of course she had put my food right on the counter in front of her so I'd have to face her to get it. 

"You know what, I'm not even that hungry," I lied, making a move towards the staircase. 

"Calum Thomas Hood. Pick up your food and eat it right now," she said, her tone dropping.

I made a move to bring my hands up in a shrug to sign what but she cut me off. "Don't you dare sign what to me and pretend you can't hear me. I'm sitting on your left side and your left ear is facing me so I'm one hundred and ten percent sure you can hear me. Grab your food, sit at the table, and eat," she said lowly.

Great. Now she was pissed and there was no way to get out of this. Turning slowly, I kept my gaze down as I picked up my plate and moved to sit at the opposite end of the table from her.

"Don't you dare lie to me again, either, Calum Hood. Steve called me earlier and told me you had an attack at the store. You're always hungry after you've had an attack. And I also know you haven't eaten anything because you smell like the forest, which means you've been there since your lesson ended," mum deduced.

Jesus, is there anything she doesn't know? I didn't say anything as I started to twirl the spaghetti onto the fork and brought it up to my mouth.

"Is that what this is all about? Are you angry because you had an attack? I didn't think having attacks made you angry anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't be upset or pissed because of them. You have every right to feel that way," she said, her tone softer this time.

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. "No, mum, it's not because I had an attack. I really don't want to talk about it. Just drop it, okay? Go to bed, I don't need to be babied just because I'm going fucking deaf," I snapped.

"Mind your language, Calum Thomas," mum chided. "And no one said anything about babying you because you're hard of hearing. You know we don't do that."

"You do. Jesus, everyone patronizes me or looks down on me like I'm some fucking contagious crazy person. I don't need to be looked after, and I don't need anyone treating me like I'm fragile. I'm going deaf, not going dumb and definitely not dying. I'm sick and tired of people taking advantage of me and treating me like shit just because I can't hear," I fumed.

"Watch your language around me, Calum. If you want to act like a brat, I can see fit to punish you for being one," she snapped. Sighing, she ran a hand through her short hair. "Did someone at the shop treat you like that, Calum? I can have a word with Steve..." she started to say, but I cut her off.

"Jesus fucking Christ, you just don't get it, do you? I'm hard of hearing, I'm not disabled. I don't need some hearing person to stand up for me and help me, not even you. I can handle my own situations. I don't need hearing people to take care of me like I'm incompetent. Just leave me the hell alone," I yelled.

Pushing my plate toward the center of the table, I shoved my chair back and stormed out of the kitchen. I didn't stop until I was in my room and had slammed the door shut as forcefully and loudly as I could.

I knew I would be in trouble for that tomorrow, but I just couldn't bring myself to give a damn. It all stemmed from the same feeling of hearing people treating me just like Luke and my mum were treating me. It was infuriating, and I couldn't deal with it anymore.

Dropping down onto my bed, I pulled out my phone from my pocket. I hadn't had the chance to look at it since before I left for my lesson. I flicked on the screen and saw there were ten texts from my best friend, Ashton. I opened up the messaging app to read them.

"Hey Cal Pal, you up for something after your lesson? Ash. xx"

"Let me know when your lessons over, we can meet up somewhere. Ash. xx"

"Your lesson must be over by now, right? Come on Calum, answer your phone. I'm bored as hell. Ash. xx"

"Calum! I'm blowing off seeing my boyfriend to hang out with you. You'd better answer or so help me God. Ash. xx"

"You know what, I'm just walking across the street and asking Mali if she knows anything. You're going to regret making me walk the whole 20 feet from my house to yours just to ask your damn sister if she knows anything. Ash. xx"

"Mali doesn't know anything. That's worrying me, Cal. You always either tell Mali or me what's going on. Just message me and tell me you're okay. We can meet up tomorrow or something. Ash. xx"

"Okay it's been like three hours since your lesson ended. I'm pissed now. Answer your fucking phone, you fucking asshole. Are you just blowing me off now? Fuck you, I hate you. Ash. xx"

"Jesus, now I'm terrified. I'm sorry, fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. You didn't have an attack while driving, did you? You're not in some ditch or something bleeding out to death, right? We would have had a call from the police or hospital if you did have an accident or something, right? Calum? Just one text. You're not even reading my messages. Just give me some sign you're okay. Please? I'm your best friend don't do this to me. Ash. xx"

"Mali just called me and she thinks you're out in the forest. She wants me to drive out and see if I can see you or your car. I think she thinks it'll be better if I'm the first person you see and not her. Alright, I'm heading out right now. Maybe see you in a few? I'm not even sure. Call me or something, buddie. Ash. xx"

"Okay, I saw your car in the parking lot at the forest, but I couldn't see you. I hung around for a little while, but I didn't see you. Thought it would be best to give you your space. I'm back home now. I called Mali and updated her. When you get home just come over to my house or go see Mali. We just want to make sure you're okay. I'll text again in the morning. Night Cal. Ash. xx"

Ashton may be the most annoying person that had ever entered my life, but I was thankful for him. We had been best friends our entire lives. My parents and his mum had actually all known each other and had been friends since they were in high school. They were so close they even ended up buying houses across the street from each other.

Ashton's a couple years older than me, but we’ve been friends since I was born. We grew up doing everything together. We had each other’s backs from the start; through thick and thin, and all the ups and downs. We were a package deal, pretty much inseparable. 

I was one of the few friends that had stuck around when Ashton came out at school. I was one of the only ones to stand up for Ashton when people bullied him for being gay or for the fact his father left him and his family when he was young.

In turn, Ashton had stood up for me when I got bullied for being gay, too. Ashton was also one of the only people who had stayed by my side and didn’t leave me, and stood up for me when I became hard of hearing.

He, along with Mali, was the only one who didn't patronize me. There was never a second where he acted like my disease made me any different. He was my only friend who had fluently learned ASL so that he could communicate with me. Our other friend, Evangeline, or Evie for short, had learned almost enough sign language to make her fluent too.

Even though Ashton and I had been and always would be the closest, Evie had become our friend back in year four and the three of us had become fast friends. We were all incredibly close. People often times called us the triplets back in school, that's how close we were.

Anyway, Ashton had this annoyingly fond tendency to keep his eye on me in a caring but not invading way. It was his best friend/brotherly instinct, and I had grown too accustomed to it to get angry with him over it.

I knew I had to text Ashton back, regardless of how shitty I felt or how much I didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I hovered my fingers over the keys before typing a quick response.

"Don't feel like talking. Shit went down at the lesson today. Will come over and explain when I'm not so pissed I could punch the life outta the wall. Cal. xx"

Just as I was about to copy the message and send it to Mali, she texted me. I guess being older than me really did make her wiser. She knew to give me a little while to cool off before texting me.

"Heard the scene the happened downstairs. Didn't sound good. I'm glad you made it home at least. I'm right across the hall, my doors always open if you want or need to talk. ~Mali xox."

I quickly texted back. "Thanks, Mali. Maybe tomorrow? Good night. Cal. xx." 

I dropped my phone onto the cabinet next to my bed and closed my eyes. I already knew I wouldn't be talking to Ashton or Mali tomorrow. I wasn't in the mood to tell them how big of a fucking fool I was. I'd rather just be pissed by myself.

\----------

I spent the next few days scowling in my room. Of course, my mum had come up the following morning after I had screamed at her and had grounded me for my behavior. Three days with no car keys, no phone, and no computer.

Not that I wanted any of those things at the moment anyway. It was my last day of being grounded and I still hadn't made any effort to leave my room. I had only managed to get myself in more trouble any time I left my room anyway, so I stopped trying.

I did feel bad for snapping at my dad and screaming awful things at him a couple days ago. I couldn't control this anger though. I knew I was being a douche bag, but this feeling of pure rage had just taken over my entire being. I had no idea how to stop myself from lashing out. It was awful.

After being grounded again, this time by my dad, and not being able to go to my lesson tomorrow, I had holed myself in my room and barely moved. My mum brought me food to eat, but I didn't each much of it.

Occasionally, I angrily played the guitar. Most of the time I just stared off and let the angry thoughts roll around in my mind. It was easier to just let the anger fester and consume me.

The thoughts of marching into the music store and just outright punching Luke in the face were roaming around in my mind when a loud knock on my door jarred me from my thoughts.

"I'm not hungry mum. Just leave me alone," I said, turning over on my bed to press my left ear into my pillow so I wouldn't be able to hear anything. 

Obviously my shouting hadn't deterred her, because I saw light splash across my wall, meaning my door had been opened. 

"Go. Away." I said again, keeping my back to the door in hopes she would just get the hint and leave me alone. I didn't want to talk to her, she just didn't understand.

That's when I felt a hand quite harshly pull me forward so I was facing them. I let out a surprised grunt as I was tugged forward to face none other then my annoying best friend, Ashton.

I blinked in surprise for a second before I shook my head. "Ash, you can't be here. I'm grounded. If my mum finds out you're here-" I started to say.

"Cal, that's why I'm here for Gods sakes. Your mum asked me. She's bloody sick of you acting like this, and to be honest, I am too. So she asked me to come talk some sense into you, and to snap you out of this foul mood," Ashton interrupted.

I frowned as I processed what he was saying. There was no point in even denying and asking if it really was that bad, because I knew it was. I was a mess, and I really did need Ashton's help. If I was going to open up and tell someone how I was feeling, Ashton was the best person for the job.

"You're right. I need help, Ash. I can't stop- this anger, it just- I feel like it's consumed me. I can't take it anymore," I said, dropping my head and squeezing my hands into fists.

"What are you angry about? Did you have a doctor’s visit you didn't tell me about? Are you losing your hearing in your left ear? Why didn't you tell me sooner? I would have been here with you, you know I would have. I know it must be frustrating, and I can't say I understand or I relate, but I'm your best friend, you should know that I'm going to stick with you through this. We can make it through this together, just because you're going Deaf doesn't mean you're going to lose me, and-" Ashton started to ramble.

"Ashton, stop, that's not it. My hearing is still perfectly fine in my left ear. I'm not going Deaf, at least not yet," I grumbled, shaking my head,

Ashton frowned, his brows furrowing before he pouted. Those were his tell tale signs he was thinking hard about something. "Then what is it?" he asked, when he clearly couldn't piece together what had made me so unbelievably angry.

This was either going to be really easy or really hard. Might as well just get it over with. "I-uh- found someone. And stop, before you start giving me that look, it isn't like that. Well, it kind of is, but it kind of isn't. I met someone, and he was beautiful. I mean like, the kind of beautiful you have to stop and stare because he's so gorgeous.

"Anyway, so he found out I was hard of hearing pretty quickly, and it didn't seem to throw him off at all. And of course I just had to have an attack when he was there, and I tried to get him to leave me alone but he stayed. And of course, by some miraculous event, his presence actually helped me get through the attack.

"After that he flirted with me, Ashton. He actually flirted with me. I'm positive it was flirting. He was jealous when he thought I was with a girl, and his behavior in general was flirtatious. He even did that little 'see you later babe' and winked at me as he walked away," I explained carefully.

Ashton frowned again and bit his lip before cocking his head to the side. "Okay two things; one, can you not give me more details than that? And two, how did all of this make you angry? To me, that all seems pretty great," Ashton asked.

I sighed. Somehow, deep down, I knew Ashton would ask those two questions. Taking a deep breath, I nodded. "Okay, you want more details? His name is Luke Hemmings. He's a newbie worker at the music store I get my lessons at. He happened to try and come help me when I was looking at that bass I want so badly. He had tried to get my attention, and when I finally did realize he was there I was literally shocked at how hot he was.

"It was like instant chemistry. You know that feeling when you first met Alex and you knew you wanted to be with him immediately?" I stopped and waited for Ashton to nod, just like I knew he would. With his nod, I continued. "That's how it felt for me when I laid eyes on Luke. I swear my heart sped up so fast I couldn't think straight. We talked for a bit, and I went to leave but I ended up having an attack.

"Steve came over to help, and he was trying to get Luke to back off and give me some room but he wouldn't. What kind of stranger just hangs around some hard of hearing freak who's having a fit? And no, don't say anything, because I know you're going to defend me and say I'm not a freak who has fits, but that's not the point. For some crazy reason, Luke stayed.

"He got down on the floor next to me and when he touched my knee, it felt like someone was grounding me, was centering me, and it helped to subdue the attack. Don't open your mouth, Irwin, I know how cliché it is.

"So, Luke helped me through the attack, and Steve left us alone again. I thought things would be awkward, I mean, let's not forget the part where the hard of hearing freak just had some sort of weird fit. And then Rebecca came by to tell me I could see Tony for my lesson, and Luke almost seemed jealous of her. Then I left and he did the 'hope to be seeing you again soon babe' thing and he winked and walked off," I explained. I nodded my head to Ashton, signaling he could talk.

"That's most definitely flirting. He's totally into you. No stranger would just hang around and check if you're okay, not like he did. He totally has a crush on you. And god fucking forbid, Calum, you're not some freak who has fits. Being hard of hearing doesn't make you a freak, and you're attacks aren't something you can control, so you can't beat yourself up over that. Jesus though, really, how much more cliché could this be. You deserve some cliché though," Ashton teased, nudging me in the shoulder

I couldn't help but crack a smile. Ashton always had that tendency to make me smile with silly little actions, even when I was in the worst of moods.

"So what went wrong? I know you, and there's no way that any of what you just said could have made you this angry. What haven't you told me yet?" he asked gently.

That was the thing about Ashton. Yeah, he got pissed at me often, and yeah, sometimes he treated me like his baby brother and it was annoying as hell. But he has always known how to treat me, how to push me without taking it too far. He just knows what my limits are, and when he needs to push me or when he needs to be gentler. It's the reason Ashton's my best friend, and I wouldn't trade him for anything.

"My lesson didn't go so well. But Tony, he was real kind to me, and to cheer me up he told me everything he knew about Luke so far. He was confident, just like you are, that Luke had feelings for me, and he told me to go for it and ask him out. 

"So I walked out of the lesson room and went in search of Luke. I felt so confident that things would go well, and I had this newfound feeling that Luke felt the same way I did. But when I found him, he was with some other guy. Him and this other guy were flirting. Luke was flirting with him the exact same way he was flirting with me; leaning into the other guy, biting his lip ring, laughing and batting his eyes at him.

It made me feel sick. It made me realize that I was nothing special at all. He just fucking flirts with everyone in an attempt to get on their good side so they'll buy something. It was some tactic, and I fell for it. I actually believed he liked me, turns out he didn't at all," I spat.

"Wait, so you're sure he was flirting with this other guy? Like one hundred percent sure? What exactly was he doing with this other guy? Did he know you could see?" Ashton asked carefully. 

"No, he didn't know I was watching. And it's like I said, the other boy was talking to him and Luke was laughing, batting his eyes, licking his lip, and chewing on his lip ring. And the other guy placed his hand on Luke, and Luke leaned into him and made the other boy laugh. And then the other guy winked at Luke and they were both laughing and smiling at each other like they were each other's whole worlds'," I said, clenching my jaw.

"Damn, you're right, he really was flirting with this other guy. Wow, what a fucking douche bag," Ashton seethed, jumping up off my bed and starting to pace. "It's one thing to do that to any guy, but to do it to you, someone who is hard of hearing and already struggles to find a guy who won't be a dweeb just because you're losing your hearing, that's just disgusting," he said bitterly.

It was actually a relief to see that Ashton felt the same way about this that I did. "Ash, there's something else," I said carefully. Ashton turned on the spot to glare at me

"What else has he done to you? I swear to fucking God I am going to march into that music store and punch him so hard in the face and kick him so hard in the balls he won't be able to move ever again," Ashton said through gritted teeth.

I knew his anger wasn't channeled at me, so I knew it was okay to say this last piece of information I had only just admitted to myself a few hours earlier. "I still like him. I can't shake off that feeling of crushing on him. Even though he obviously feels nothing towards, I can't get rid of my feelings towards him," I admitted, dropping my head in shame. 

Ashton sighed and began to pace the room again. “Ashton…?” I asked carefully.

“Shut up a minute, I’m trying to think,” he said, keeping his back to me but staying on my left side. 

We lapsed into silence as Ashton paced around my room in laps. He’d come around my bed, loop round to the door, over to the window, and then back past the door to my bed. He kept this up for a solid five minutes before he finally turned to look at me with an audible gasp.

“I have an idea. It’s slightly risky, but if you still have feelings for him then it’s the only way to find out if he actually likes you back or if the flirting is all just some worthless shit to him,” Ashton said.

Ashton was the best at planning and giving advice, so I just had to put my trust in him and hope he was right about this. “Alright, what’s your plan?” I asked.

“In short, sorry to say this bud, but you seriously need to grow a pair of motherfucking balls,” Ashton said, giving me a look.

I leaned back in shock. “I’m sorry, what?” I asked in disbelief.

“Grow a pair of balls and do something about it. Not just anything though, you need to get your ass back into that music store and you make Luke want you. You get in there and you make him wish he hadn’t gone flirting with some other guy. 

“You go to your lessons and you wear those tight jeans you bought last year that show off your ass and those tanks that show how ripped you are now that you work out. Get in that store and look so hot that you have Luke crawling around the store on his knees begging for a chance with you. 

“You need to make him earn it, make him want you so desperately that he’ll do anything to have you. Make him jealous. Do whatever it takes to get his attention and then act like you don’t give a damn. You’ll have him desperate for you within two weeks, I guarantee it,” Ashton said with a grin.

“I’m not going to lie, that was probably one of the gayest things you’ve said to me in a while… but it’s crazy enough that I think it might just work. Luke Hemmings, you’d better be ready, because I’m going to have you begging on your knees for me more than you’ve ever begged for anything in your whole life,” I said with a playful smirk, winking at Ashton proudly.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calum and Ashton launch a plan in order to find out if Luke is or isn't interested in Calum. If it goes well in the end, Luke will be begging on his knees for Calum. When Calum goes to the music store to launch plan D.A.B (Desperate and Begging) the reaction he gets from Luke takes him by surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My loyal readers who have stuck with this story, I want to say the biggest thank you in the world!! 
> 
> I know it's been so many months since I last wrote for this story, and for that I'm truly sorry. I have not given up on this story. I'm going to be working extremely hard on this story this summer, so look forward to many chapters to come. My college classes have been extremely overwhelming lately, that's the real reason I haven't had time to write. Taking two majors at once is a lot more difficult than it sounds. The good news is, it's summer! I'm ready to spend the summer writing again, so here's to many more chapters and stories to come. Thank you for the never-ending support and your love for this story, it has truly been the one thing that has kept me going with this story! Please enjoy this chapter, and I'm going to work my hardest to have the next chapter up within the next week or two. Please leave comments and votes; let me know what you think! Thank you again, I love you all!
> 
> ~ Sophie xxxxxx

Ashton and I spent the rest of the day compiling a list of things I could do to have Luke begging for me. I admit, it was probably the gayest thing I've done since I fanboyed over Chris Hemsworth in the latest Avengers movie. I mean, come on, he's fine as hell, so I had every right to fanboy over him, thank you very much.

The only flaw in our plan had been the obvious fact that my dad had called and cancelled my music lesson the following day, because he had grounded me. Therefore, I wouldn't be going to the store.

Ashton had a great idea though. He would just drive us both over to the store and we would wander around and look at the instruments and launch our plan that way. It wasn't a hardship for Ashton to join me. He was in love with drums, so I knew his attention would be drawn to the drums section and I could go off and find Luke.

I hated the fact my lesson was cancelled, but I would need all my attention focused in on the plan, so it wasn't the worst thing to happen. Everything had to go just right in order to get the exact reaction out of Luke that I wanted.

Right now I was scanning the clothes in my closet, trying to find the perfect clothes for day one of 'Desperate and Begging', or D.A.B for short. I know, super lame plan name, but we wanted something short and snappy.

"You don't wanna go all out on the first day. Maybe just something a little sexy and tempting to get him interested," Ashton called to me from my bed.

I whipped around and stared at him, my eyebrows disappearing into my hairline. "When have I ever owned or worn anything remotely sexy or tempting, Irwin?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

I made a peace sign, or known to me as the letter v, and brought it up and rested it against my forehead. The sign for stupid. Ashton rolled his eyes and flipped me off.

He proceeded to jump off my bed and made his way over to the closet. He rubbed his fingers over his chin in contemplation for a second before he turned to me to sign.

He started by sticking his pinkie out and dragging it down in a curved swoop, the letter J. Next he bent his four fingers down and rested them on his thumb, the letter E. After that he made a fist with his thumb resting on the side of his pointer finger, the letter A. Keeping his fist still, he moved his thumb to rest and stick out between his middle and fourth finger, the letter N. Finally, he made another fist and rested his thumb over the middle digits of his other fingers, the letter S. This formed the fingerspelled word, jeans.

He paused for a second before he pointed with his pointer finger and dragged the finger across his forehead. The sign for black.

Finally, he kept his pointer finger up and waggled it back and forth, the sign for where.

Where are the black jeans?

I pointed my finger to the black jeans hanging in the very back of my closet. Ashton grinned and nodded, pulling the jeans out and throwing them onto my bed. They were one of my tighter pairs of jeans. Smooth move, Irwin, I thought to myself.

He then scanned my shirts briefly before pulling out a white Nirvana shirt with black sleeves. He dropped the shirt above the jeans, gave the outfit a thoughtful look before he nodded proudly.

He signed to me again. Pointing his pointer finger to me, the sign for you. He then signed the word think. Finally, he put his hands out, palms up, and shrugged his shoulders, shaking his palms slightly, the informal sign for what.

In ASL, he signed what do you think? I paused for a second, cocking my head to the side as I examined the outfit. Grinning, I turned and nodded to Ashton. “Good choice, I like it,” I spoke.

Ashton clapped me on the back, a grin reflecting on his face too. “See, this plan is totally going to work. And you doubted me at first. I would like a formal apology,” Ashton said.

“Oh piss off,” I replied, knocking my hip into Ashton’s, causing us both to laugh.

“I’d better get home. My brother is going to kill me if I’m not there to give him a pep talk tonight for his game in the morning. I’ll pick you up at 10 tomorrow morning and we’ll head down to the store, alright?” Ashton asked.

“Sounds good to me. Thanks Ashton. I owe you big time. You really are the best,” I said, giving him the first genuine smile I’d had in days. Ashton pulled me into a hug, and I rested my head on his shoulder. 

“Seriously though, bro, don’t get yourself in trouble in the next twelve hours, please. You need to get the hell out of this house, and that is never going to happen if you keep getting yourself grounded,” Ashton pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Stay out of trouble, don’t do anything stupid, blah blah blah. I know the drill,” I responded, rolling my eyes. Ashton rolled his eyes back, grabbing his phone and making to leave.

“Seriously, no trouble,” Ashton said.

“Ash, I promise. Now please get out,” I replied, pushing him towards the door myself. Ashton laughed as I finally managed to push him out of the door.

“Be ready by the time I come to pick you up. Make sure you look smokin’” he teased, winking at me.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. You’re too far on my right side. You’ll have to tell me again some other time. Bye,” I said, pushing him towards the staircase.

“You’re such a little shit. I’m on your left side, stop pretending like you can’t hear me. I mean it, you’d better be looking good when I get here,” Ashton responded. 

“Some day I will be fully Deaf and then I won’t be able to hear you at all. I’ll be ready, alright? Now get lost, I can handle things for the next twelve hours,” I answered.

“Alright, alright. I’m leaving,” Ashton said, descending the stairs. “Think about what I said,” he called up from the bottom of the stairs, winking at me before disappearing out the front door.

“Should I be worried or is this just normal Ashton Irwin behavior?” Mali asked as she stepped into my view. I chuckled, turning around and facing my sister.

“It’s normal Ashton Irwin behavior. I wouldn’t worry too much,” I said leaning against the banister.

“It’s you and Ashton, your behavior always worries me. There’s nothing normal with either of you,” she teased.

“Ouch, that hurts,” I said, feigning a look of physical pain. Mali just shook her head, rolling her eyes.

“As if. On the bright side, you seem to be in a better mood. I thought calling Ashton and getting him to come over was a good idea. If anyone can cheer you up, it’s always Ashton,” she said with a smile.

“You were the one who convinced mum to let Ashton come over? You’re the best,” I said, reaching out to hug her. She laughed and hugged me back.

“I know I am. Now seriously, go take a shower, you stink,” she said, making a face at me. I stuck my tongue out at her and gave her a playful shove before moving towards my room. 

“Hey, Cal?” Mali called back. I turned my head to look back at her. “It’s good to see you being yourself again,” she said with a warm smile.

“Thanks, sis,” I said, smiling back. With that I headed back to my room, feeling lighter than I had in days. I was ready to set Plan D.A.B into action, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. I was determined to have Luke as mine, and I wanted him to want me even more than I wanted him.

\---------

I woke up early the next morning, my nerves keeping me from sleeping. I had tossed and turned all night, worry tugging at me. What if this didn’t work? What if it all had been a joke to Luke? What if, for once, Ashton was wrong?

By the time Ashton had rung on the doorbell at 10, I had gotten dressed and then changed my mind seven times. That’s how nervous I was. I’m never nervous. Never. Sure, I used to be terrified of how people would see me. I was scared of my disease and what people would think of me. But now, I just don’t care. I am who I am, and other people aren’t going to change that. Even I can’t change that. I’m going Deaf and there is no cure. I had accepted that a long time ago. I’m proud of who I am now, and I’m proud of being Deaf.

But this is different. This is Luke; a guy I know next to nothing about. I had changed my mind seven times by now because I was seriously doubting my feelings for him. Besides, why would someone like him want someone like me?

I had even texted Ashton twice telling him I had changed my mind. Both times he called me back straight away to talk it out with me. He reminded me I would never know Luke’s feelings if we didn’t give this a try. And of course, like always, he was right.

So that leaves me here; sitting on the staircase and staring at the front door as Ashton rung the bell a second time. The light by the door flashed, signifying someone had rung the bell. We had it installed a year ago so I could physically see when someone was at the door, since I couldn’t always hear the bell ringing.

Ashton finally peered in through the window by the side of the door. I could visibly see him heave a sigh at seeing me sat on the staircase. He reached down, knocking the flower pot aside to grab the spare key. He then unlocked the door and let himself in.

He didn’t say anything at first, just plopped himself down in the empty space to my left. We sat in silence for a couple minutes. My hands were shaking, which made Ashton frown. He picked my hands up and wrapped them up in his own.

“Is this because of Luke? Or the disease?” he asked softly.

“Both,” I answered, letting myself slump against Ashton.

“What happened?” he asked gently, rubbing soothing circles over one of my hands.

“I’m not sure. Guess I was so nervous about this plan that I induced some of the symptoms,” I answered.

Mum stepped out from the kitchen and gave Ashton a weak smile. “He was coming down the stairs. He lost his balance again and fell down the last few stairs. He then proceeded to throw up on the floor.”

Ashton pulled me closer to him, tucking me under his arms. He was completely unfazed by what she said. Most people would run off in disgust, but not Ashton.

“Whatever you two are off to do, I’m not sure if it’s the right thing right now. It’s stressing him out too much and his body physically can’t take it,” she said warily.

Ashton looked at me carefully. “We don’t have to go out today, if you want? We can push it off. There’s no pressure to do anything today.”

I’m sure I’ve said this a thousand times already, but I can officially declare that Ashton Fletcher Irwin is the absolute and utter best friend a person can have. Hands down. I’m sending it in to the Guinness Book of World Records. No one is a better friend then Ashton.

“Has he been taking his meds for the symptoms?” he asked, turning to my mum.

“Yes, we’ve made sure of it. Been delivering them to his room every day with food and water, and we watch him to make sure he actually takes them.”

Have I also mentioned how much of a big brother Ashton acts towards me? He has no responsibility to take care of me like this, but he does. And my parents roll with it. It’s like all four of them- my parents, Mali, and Ashton- have split the responsibility for watching over me. Sometimes it’s overbearing. Other times it’s the most heartwarming thing in the world; especially when things like this happen, where my symptoms flare up or attacks happen.

I nudged Ashton, and he immediately snapped his attention to me. “I want to go. I don’t want this to have all been for nothing.”

Ashton nodded once at me, then looked over at mum. “Are you okay with that? We’re not going far, just to the music store. I’ll bring him straight back. And I’ll keep my eye on him. If he starts showing any symptoms, I know what to do. If something happens I’ll help him just like we talked about.”

If it was anyone else, mum would have hesitated and said no. But this was Ashton; she trusted him as much as I did. She didn’t hesitate, just gave us a nod and turned away. “Take care of him, Ashton.”

“I will, don’t worry,” Ashton replied. As soon as mum was gone, Ashton looked me straight in the eyes. “Are you 100% sure you want to do this today? If you’ve already flared your symptoms up this much, is it really safe to push yourself anymore?”

I gritted my teeth and nodded, only causing my stomach to lurch all over again. “Just drive slowly,” I replied, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath through my nose.

“Don’t you dare throw up in my car,” Ashton warned, helping me to my feet. I knew it was a fake threat. Multiple times while driving together I had had to have Ashton pull over so I could empty my stomach on the side of the road. It was a common occurrence with my disease, so it wasn’t something that disgusted Ashton or I anymore. Like I said, Ashton’s the best. I dare you to challenge me. Seriously, I dare you. No one has I better friend than I do.

I steadied myself against Ashton, focusing on gaining my balance. I opened my eyes when I felt stable. “’M ready,” I mumbled. Nodding, Ashton looped his arms around my waist and we walked out together. He made sure I was situated in the car before he went back to lock the door.

He jumped into the driver’s seat and looked over at me. “So, time to set Plan D.A.B into action?” he asked. Whether he was clarifying the plan or checking my health, I wasn’t sure. Either way I gave him a small but firm nod. 

Although I had a terrible feeling, since I looked like utter shit right now. Ashton sensed this, because he reached up and ruffled my hair. Fixing my shirt, he patted me on the shoulder. “Relax, you look fine. You’ll look better if you smile.”

I rolled my eyes at him, and nodded towards the road. “Just drive, Irwin.”

Chuckling, he turned the car on and pulled out onto the road. We drove in silence. Ashton kept his speed slow, sticking to the lane with the best hard shoulder just in case things turned south.

For once, luck was on my side. I kept my eyes closed, and was startled when Ashton nudged me gently and told me we were here. Opening my eyes, I realized we really were parked right outside the music store.

It was now or never, and like Ashton said, I needed to grow a pair of balls. Pulling the visor down, I glanced at myself in the mirror. I didn’t particularly look great, but I forced myself to grin and it did help.

“Alright, let’s do this shit,” I said with a boldness I didn’t feel. As everyone always says, come across as confident and everyone will believe you’re confident, and someday it won’t just be an act.

“That’s my Cal,” Ashton said, clapping me on the shoulder and jumping out of the car. I followed his lead, getting out and leaning against the car. “Alright, we’ll just split up and you go look for Luke. If you need me, just whistle. I’ll be there as quickly as I can,” he reassured.

“And what happens if I pass out or vomit on him?” I asked, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Then we run as fast as we can and you find a new place to get bass lessons. Now stop being a drama queen and get your fine looking ass into the store,” Ashton ordered, giving me a light shove.

“So reassuring. Thanks for the support, Ashton,” I said sarcastically. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the store with Ashton on my heels.

“I’ll be in the drums section, alright?” he asked. I nodded distractedly, my eyes already darting around and looking for Luke. Ashton moved past me, squeezing my hand as he walked by. I watched him go. He glanced back at me several times, and I knew he was being big brother Ashton again, making sure I didn’t suddenly fall apart.

Once he had disappeared from my sight, I made my way to the guitar section. That was where I had met Luke last time, and it was my best bet of finding him again.

As I walked to the section, I ran into James, one of the other employees. “Hey, haven’t seen you around in a while. You been alright?” he asked.

I gave him a tired smile. “Yeah, just been a little sick. Flare ups and all. I’ll be back to my lessons in a few days,” I half-lied. It wasn’t a total lie, but I wasn’t going to tell him I had been struggling over a crush on one of his co-workers.

“If I see Tony today I’ll let him know,” James said happily. He gave my shoulder a squeeze and walked off further into the store, probably looking for other customers.

Taking a deep breath, I finally made it to the guitar section. My best shot was just hanging here and hoping Luke made his rounds into this section.

I wasn’t just going to stand here and look stupid. I walked over and traced my hand over the bass guitar I still wanted. Some day, I would own that guitar. I just needed the money for it. I plucked one of the strings, and felt the vibrations zap through my fingers. It sent a thrill down my spine. I plucked another one, and continued to literally feel the music through my fingertips. Once you know how to feel music instead of just hearing it, it creates a whole new experience.

I got carried away, plucking the strings and holding others to feel the different notes. I didn’t particularly notice I had gotten carried away until I heard a faint clapping sound. I turned around in shock, seeing Luke standing there.

When he got a full look at me, his eyes blew up, growing wide. “T-that was fan- I mean, that was goo- that was ama-amazing,” Luke stuttered. His eyes traveled down my body, visibly checking me out.

Score one for me.

Either he just so happened to be standing on my left side, or he had remembered I could only hear from my left. I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t feel like ruining the moment and asking.

Channeling my inner Ashton Irwin confidence™, I gave Luke a smirk and shrugged my shoulders. “Thanks. I can play a lot better than that. Was just kind of messing with the strings really. Glad to know it sounded good.”

“How do you play without hearing?” Luke asked. As soon as the words were out of his mouth his eyes widened even more. “Oh God, that was so rude, I’m so sorry,” he rushed to say, a look of guilt crossing his face.

“It’s alright, I get asked that a lot actually. That’s why I get lessons here. Tony is teaching me to play by focusing on the vibrations and the way the music feels. I’m learning by touch what sounds good, so that when I fully lose my hearing I can still play,” I explained, keeping my eyes locked on Luke’s.

“You’re beaut- that’s beautiful. You must be really talented to learn like that,” he said, a blush rising up his cheeks.

I’m counting that as score two for me.

This is working out much better than I thought it would. Score one for Ashton. Damn him for always being right.

I shrugged again, but I flashed Luke a real smile this time. When I did, Luke lit up even more. “Anyone could do it if they tried hard enough.”

“You’re just being modest. I’ve been playing guitar for most of my life, but there’s no way I could do what you do,” he said, sucking his lip ring into his mouth.

What would Ashton do in a situation like this…. ‘Offer to teach him.’

Jesus, I’m even starting to think in Ashton’s voice. Note to self, personally tell Ashton to get the fuck out of my head.

“I could teach you the basics, if you want?” I offered. 

I watched Luke’s reaction carefully. The blush that was on his cheeks was now running all the way down his neck. He shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting with the keys in his pocket. I had officially made Luke Hemmings flustered.

Score three for me.

He coughed, clearing his throat and he nodded rapidly, as if he didn’t trust his voice. Maybe I was wrong, maybe he really did have feelings for me. No one reacts like this if they aren’t into you. I’ll have to confer with Ashton later.

“Mind if I borrow this bass for a second? Mines at home,” I said, motioning to my dream bass hanging on the wall.

“Ye-yeah, go for i-it,” Luke stuttered.

Grinning, I reached up and pulled the bass off the wall, making sure to stick my ass out so Luke could get a good look. Luke swallowed so loudly even I could hear it. Do you even know how loud that has to be for me to hear it? Oh yeah, D.A.B. was working better than I could have possibly imagined.

When I turned back to face Luke, he was shuffling around, his entire face bright red. He was shifting as if trying to hide the fact he was turned on. I didn’t even need to confer with Ashton now. I knew he was into me.

Now I really did have the perfect reason to play the bass. If Luke really was into me, might as well show off a bit to keep his attention, right? Time to finish with a bang as they say.

“Come here,” I motioned, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively. Luke gulped and his eyes traveled from the guitar to my ass. I pretended not to notice, keeping my eyes on Luke. When his eyes locked with mine again, I nodded for him to come over to me. Taking a deep breath, he made his way over.

He stopped a few feet in front of me and I rolled my eyes teasingly. “You’re going to have to come closer if you want me to actually teach you how to play like I do.”

Luke bit his lip and slightly shook his head. I grinned and spun the guitar to my side so there was room for Luke to stand in front of me. He hesitated for a second before stepping into my personal space.

I took a second to appreciate that Luke’s back was pressed against my chest. Sweet mother of God, he smells amazing. For the record, I did not just say that. If I find out that any of you tell Luke what I just said, I’m going to kill you I swear. Alright, back to the important stuff.

I moved to swing the bass in front of Luke’s chest. His hand automatically came up to rest at the top of the guitar neck. Alright, time to channel my Ashton Irwin confidence™ again.

“Nope, nice try,” I murmured lowly in his ear, moving his hand away from the top of the guitar.

“Wh-what?” he stuttered, shudders running down his back. Goddamn, I definitely didn’t expect this kind of reaction. Ashton is definitely going to agree that Luke has feelings for me. Oh, this is sweet. I’m so definitely dragging this out as long as I can, I’m very much enjoying this.

“You need to be able to feel the way the strings vibrate. To do that, you need your fingers placed a lot lower on the strings. Keep your fingers between the the pickup and the neck. Once you understand how the vibrations work, then you can put your hands back up higher on the neck,” I explained.

Luke moved has hand down much lower on the bass and then tilted his head to look at me. “Like this?” he asked. I nodded, giving him a genuine smile.

“That’s perfect. Okay, I’m going to slowly play a song. I want you to close your eyes and focus on the way the notes feel in your fingertips. Block everything else out, just focus on the way the music literally feels. Imagine the notes literally running through your fingertips,” I explained quietly.

I watched as Luke’s eyes fluttered closed and he relaxed his weight into me. Good God, someone pinch me, I must be dreaming. As if my thoughts had been answered, Ashton rounded the corner and came to a screeching halt.

“Wh-?” he started to ask in what I assume was a shocked tone. I shot him a dangerous look, making sure he got the hint to get the hell out. Oh the look Ashton gave me back. If a look could literally capture flirtatious behavior and sex in one, it would be the look Ashton gave me; his eyes darting between Luke and I.

‘Piss. Off.’ I mouthed at him. Ashton fingerspelled ‘O-K’ back to me, and with a final smirk, he disappeared around the corner. Honestly, bloody Ashton Irwin ruining my moment. When we leave I’m going to kill him.

Focusing back on the warm weight resting against my chest, I moved one of own hands to the top of the guitar and the other just under Luke’s hand. “I’m going to play now,” I said gently. Luke gave an affirmative sound, and I began to strum the guitar. I picked my favorite song, playing the opening sounds of ‘I Miss You’ by Blink 182. 

Luke gasped softly. “That’s my favorite song,” he said quietly. I barely heard what he said, but I could read his lips being this close to him, so I knew what he said.

“Mine too, now focus,” I replied in a gentle tone. I played through the song slowly, making sure to put stress down on the strings like Tony had taught me. I tried to keep my focus on the bass, but I couldn’t stop my betraying eyes from flittering over to Luke every few seconds.

At the beginning of the song, his expression was hard and focused. He was concentrating so hard that his eyebrows were knitted together and I could see beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead.

“Relax and feel the music,” I suggested. Luke’s expression instantly softened and relaxed. His features became calmer and his breathing evened out. As I continued to play, I watched as I saw the awe suddenly flash across Luke’s face.

“Oh, wow,” Luke breathed out, his expression lighting up even more. Do you know what he did next? He giggled. He fucking giggled. I swear to God my heart just exploded. Someone come and rescue me, I have officially died.

“This is amazing,” he said with a grin. I bit my lip and focused on finishing the song. By the time I had played the last note, Luke has the biggest smile on his face that I had ever seen in my life. He looked absolutely beautiful. I want him so fucking bad.

“That was incredible. I can’t believe you learned how to play like that. That was just-wow- mind blowing,” Luke gaped.

I smirked triumphantly. I had officially impressed Luke; mission accomplished for now. “Thanks,” I mumbled, acting shy. When did I go from acting brave to suddenly acting shy? This is officially the best day ever. Ashton is going to be so proud of me.

Luke turned his body to my left and spoke, “You’re really talented. Thanks for showing me how you play.”

Holy crap. Did he just purposefully turn to my left so I could hear him clearly? Did he remember these things about me? I’m dreaming. Nobody pinch me, I’m enjoying this far too much.

“Thank you for taking the time to see music from my view,” I replied, giving him a smile. He blushed and bit his lip ring, a giggle slipping past his lips. Fuck, it’s so cute. There’s nothing cuter than his giggle. Challenge me, I dare you. He’s adorable, end of discussion.

I went to move the guitar to the side so that Luke could step away from me, but he shifted closer. His face tipped closer to mine, as if he was the one tempting me to lean the rest of the way. I sucked in a breath and Luke’s face inched closer; so close I could feel his breath on my cheek.

He’s going to kiss me. He’s actually going to kiss me. Yes, yes, yes. Screw the plan. Screw everything, I’m going to kiss Luke Hemmings until I can’t breathe. Luke was mere centimeters from my lips when I heard a loud cough to my left.

I turned to glare at none other then Ashton Fucking Irwin. Oh I’m going to kill him. I’m going to destroy him, the motherf’ing cockblock.

He knew I was angry, so he was very careful to speak slowly instead of signing. “We need to go. Harry’s back from his game and he wants us both at the house to celebrate his win. Mum's out grilling and wants us both home. She’s invited all your family to join us.”

He put his hand up into the letter S and brought it facing inward to his chest, moving it around in a circle on his chest. The sign for sorry. At least that was genuine. If he was joking or honestly didn’t mean it, he would say sorry out loud. When he was truly sorry, he signed it.

At least that meant his excuse for interrupting was legitimate. He wasn’t being a cockblock just for the sake of it.

I signed back OK and turned my attention back to Luke. “I’ve got to go, I’m sorry.”

Luke nodded, pursing his lips. He stepped back out of my personal space and cleared his throat, his cheeks stained bright red. “You’ll be back around here soon, right?” he asked, chewing on his lip.

“Yeah, I’ll be back in two days for my lesson,” I replied. I flicked my gaze to Ashton, who mouthed to me ‘be cool’. “I’ll see you when I see you, Luke,” I said sending him a wink. As I walked past him I purposefully placed the bass into his hands, making sure our fingertips brushed against each other, before I turned my back on him and walked away.

As soon as I got to Ashton he reached out and wrapped his fingers around my wrist to stabilize me. How he knew I was starting to lose my balance, I’m not sure. Either way, I leaned my weight into him and let him lead me out.

We climbed into the car and Ashton instantly pounced on me. “What happened? What did you do? What did he do? Was he into you? Was he flirting with you? Did you flirt with him? Were you about to kiss? What about our plan to tease him and make him beg for you? Don’t ruin my perfectly good plan, idiot,” Ashton said, cuffing me in the head gently.

I shook my head, turning to give him a half-hearted glare. “Drive and I’ll catch you up on everything. By the way, you’re a cockblock, Irwin. Once I’ve told you everything I’m never speaking to you again.”

Ashton actually laughed, pushing the car into drive. The hard jerk caused me to reach out with a startled sound. “Sorry, babe, didn’t mean to throw you off like that,” he said, bringing the car back to a stop so I could get control of my nausea. Luke had kept me from thinking about my symptoms but now he was gone and they were back full throttle, no pun intended.

I took a couple minutes to get my bearings before I turned to Ashton and gave him an affirmative nod. “I’m ready, let’s go.”

“No puking in my car. I’m serious, Calum Thomas.”

“Fuck off, cockblock,” I grumbled, closing my eyes and resting my head against the window.

“I swear I will swerve this car all over the road if you don’t start talking right this second,” he threatened.

“Don’t be an ass all your life,” I groaned, sighing deeply.

“Don’t start keeping secrets from me, punk. Come on, out with it. I need all the details,” Ashton quipped back. When I opened my eyes I could see the massive grin that was plastered to Ashton’s face. He was right; there was never any secrets between Ashton and I. He was so happy for me and his excitement was radiating and I couldn’t help but feel it too.

So I launched into the story, recounting every tiny little detail of D.A.B Day 1. Ashton agreed with my assumptions that Luke was into me. I also told him to get the hell out of my head, which only made him laugh even more. He proclaimed he was proud and that I had learned well. I only rolled my eyes at his dramatics.

By the time we reached Ashton’s house, plans for D.A.B Day 2 were underway. I was itching to launch the next phase of our plan. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if by the end of this if it was going to be Luke or me who would be the desperate and begging one.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With part 2 of plan D.A.B (Desperate and Begging) set in motion, Calum must step out of his comfort zone in order to get Luke's attention. Flirting isn't usually Calum's thing, but once he starts it becomes easy to flirt with everyone around him. Calum is fueled by the obviously jealous behavior that Luke displays; so much so that he decides to up the ante, and he flirts with Luke. Luke's reactions are exactly what Calum wants; he knows it will take just one more small push to cause Luke to break down and beg for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi readers!
> 
> I'm sorry it took so long for me to post this chapter. I had a wave of writers block for a while, and every time I started this chapter I ended up deleting it because I hated it. But I finally got some inspiration and I know where I'm going with this story now. This chapter turned out much better than I thought it would, so I hope you all like it! It won't be long until we finally get some serious action between Calum and Luke. Thank you to everyone who has read and liked this story, your support has meant a great deal to me! Please leave comments and votes; let me know what you think!
> 
> ~ Sophie xxxxxx

The last two days have gone by way too quickly and yet way too slowly. Do you know that feeling? Like when you’re a little kid counting down the days until Christmas and it feels like it’s a few days away and yet a few centuries away. That’s exactly how the last two days have felt for me.

It’s this awful yet thrilling feeling of nerves that’s been building up inside me, and it’s all because of Luke. I’m way too gone for this boy already. I’ve already determined I’m absolutely and utterly screwed if it turns out this isn’t what he wants.

Ashton officially calls me lover boy now, which is extremely annoying. Every time he sees me the first thing he does is sign the letter “d” with his pointer finger resting against his lips and then he moves it down to his other hand with his palm facing upward, where he bounces it across his palm from his wrist to his fingertips. The sign for falling in love.

Have I mentioned that I hate Ashton? Because I do. Worst best friend ever. I straight up told him I’m never telling him about my love life ever again. He just laughed at me. What an ass.

Okay, so maybe I don’t hate Ashton. He happens to be sitting next to me calming my nerves; or at least he’s trying. We’re sat in my car outside the music store, and Ashton’s sat in the passenger seat.

“Just walk your handsome, sexy ass in there, strut right past him, flaunt your hotness in his face, and then walk into your bass lesson. It’s not that hard,” Ashton said, nudging me with his elbow.

“Easy for you to say. You and Alex just sort of instantly fell for each other and everything worked out perfectly for both of you. You have the damn fairytale love story with him,” I complained miserably.

“Not true and you know it. You know Alex and I have had it rough. And you knew Alex almost broke up with me because he thought you and I were a thing, and that I was cheating on him with you,” Ashton said, giving me a look.

“Still to this day I cannot comprehend how or why Alex would think that. You and I have never been anything more than just friends. We’re basically brothers,” I said, making a disgusted face. 

This only made Ashton laugh. “Agreed, but today is the day to pretend we are a thing. And since I’m your pretend boyfriend for today, I’m telling you to get your ass in that store and set D.A.B Day 2 into action.”

I sighed, knowing that Ashton was right like always. Honest to God, I’m so sick of him being right all the time; it’s so damn frustrating. I tapped my fingers nervously against the wheel, which made Ashton lean over and put his hand on top of mine.

“Hey. Look at me. I’m going in there with you, alright? If anything goes wrong or you need to bail I’m going to be right by your side. Stop stressing, okay? You’re going to cause yourself to have another attack, and it’s not healthy for you to have this many attacks in one week. You did so well a couple days ago, you had Luke turn to putty in your hand. You can do it again; I believe in you. So get up, get into the store, and get Luke’s attention,” Ashton said, leaving no room for me to argue.

I took a deep breath, and nodded. “Fine, but if anything goes wrong it’s on you,” I said firmly. Ashton put his hands up in defeat, signaling he understood.

He then crossed his middle and index finger together (like what people do when they say they are super close with someone), creating the letter R, and shook his hands from side to side, the sign for ready. His eyebrows were raised up, indicating he was asking a yes or no question.

Taking one last deep breath, I made a fist with my right hand and moved it up and down in a movement similar to nodding. The sign for yes. Ashton gave me a reassuring smile and he stepped out of the car.

I followed his lead and got out of the safety of my car, grabbing my bass as I did. Here goes nothing. Together, we walked into the store, and sure enough I immediately ran into James, one of the employees. 

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Ashton was scanning the store for Luke. I could see him very barely make the sign for yes; Luke was nearby. The oh so fun part, according to Ashton, would be flirting with James but making it seem like Ashton and I had a thing.

The latter was incredibly easy, apparently. People had assumed Ashton and I were a thing for years with how close we are, and how there was never any reservations between us. Ashton was always up in my personal space, and I never minded. He took care of me and my condition without patronizing me, which I really appreciated. Of course, people took this the wrong way. The only time it bothered me was when Ashton started dating Alex.

I had to sit down and have a serious conversation with Alex to prove Ashton and I weren't a thing. That would have been awkward enough on its own. It was made even more awkward that Ashton had been there at the time, acting as an unofficial interpreter for me as Alex paced the room talking.

Ashton has been acting as my unofficial interpreter for years. It was more fuel to the fire that we were together. Wherever I went, Ashton was on my heels signing conversations to me that I couldn't hear.

I had a pretty good feeling that he was secretly going to classes at the community college so he could become an official interpreter for me when I became completely Deaf. I never brought it up to him though, because I knew he wanted it to be a surprise. Basically knowing Ashton was doing that for me meant more to me than anything else in this world. Again, I dare anyone to challenge me. Ashton is the definition of the world's best friend.

Ashton's slightly flailing hand brought me back to reality. Right, flirting time. This is going to go so badly; I literally have no idea how to flirt. Luckily, James saved me by starting the conversation.

"Hey, Cal, you're looking really good today," James said with a smile. Did Ashton come in here before hand and pay James to flirt with me? Before I could respond, James spoke up again. "I mean; you look really healthy today. And on top of that you look good," James grinned, pretending to check me out.

Ashton so paid him off. I'm literally going to kill him. Someone pre-dig a grave please; I'm burying Ashton's body tonight. I contemplated turning around and glaring daggers at Ashton, but I thought better of it and decided to just go with it.

“You’re the one who’s looking good,” I replied, taking a step away from him so I could let my eyes roam over his body. James grinned at me, his eyes lighting up mischievously. He took a step toward me and to my left, keeping himself on my hearing side.

“I’m glad I got the chance to see you, I was just on my way out; my shift just ended. Seeing you around here is always the highlight of my day,” James said coyly.

Damn, this kid is good. How the hell am I going to be able to say anything as flirtatious as what he just said?

“Why don’t you stick around? My lesson will only be an hour. I’d really like to see you after my lesson is over,” I said. 

God, how did I just do that? Where did that even come from? Ashton is going to be over the moon with how proud he’s going to be of me. Calum Hood, hard of hearing and a social outcast turned into a real flirt. I’m proud of myself, holy shit.  
   
“Yeah, I’d be happy to hang around until your lesson is done. Anything to see you again,” James grinned. I was just about to reply when Ashton stepped into my field of view again. Ah yes, jealous fake-boyfriend Ashton to the rescue.  
   
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Ashton said smoothly, gliding his hand around my hip and looking not at all sorry for stepping into our conversation. “Calum would love to stay and chat after his lesson, but I’m taking him out to have a little fun if you know what I mean,” Ashton said, winking at James and I.  
   
I felt a blush creep up my cheeks despite myself. James coughed awkwardly, his gaze shifting down to the ground. “Right, uh, I didn’t, um- I didn’t know. I’m sorry, man,” he stuttered out.  
   
“No hard feelings,” Ashton said, reaching over and clapping James on the shoulder. When James looked up he really did look embarrassed. I’ve gotta up my game, James and Ashton’s acting is way better than mine. I’m never gunna make Luke jealous at this rate.  
   
“Maybe another time? I’m always happy to spend time with you,” I said to James, dropping my tone in a more flirtatious manner.  
   
James gave me a sneaky smile, winking at me before he stepped around me to leave the shop. I kept my gaze on James, watching as he left. I let my eyes linger on his ass. I mean he’s got a pretty fine ass. Not as good as Luke’s though, just saying.  
   
“Don’t you have a lesson to go to?” Ashton asked, his tone slightly snappy. Playing the jealous card well, nice move Irwin.  
   
“Go look at the drums,” I snapped back, whipping my head around so that we locked eyes. Ashton’s lips upturned into a slight grin. Job well done.  
   
Ashton took a step back from me and brought his hand up to his chest, the tip of his thumb resting against his sternum with the rest of his fingers spread out. This was the ASL sign for fine.  
   
With one last lingering look, Ashton stalked off towards the drums, “accidently” bumping into Luke as he did. As soon as I caught Luke’s eye, I quickly looked away. He took our fleeting eye contact as an invitation to come over.  
   
He made sure to place himself on my left side before he flashed an inquisitive look at me. “Seems like you’re quite the heartbreaker, Calum,” he said, something I couldn’t quite place flashing across his eyes.  
   
I shrugged noncommittally, pretending I didn’t care. “I wouldn’t say that,” I said, brushing it off.  
   
“You just had James and that other guy fighting over you. Who is that guy, by the way? He was here with you before, right?” Luke asking, trying to make his tone appear nonchalant but failing abysmally.  
   
“Oh, yeah he was here before; his name’s Ashton. I’ve known him my whole life, he knows me better than anyone else. He’s like, I don’t know, I can’t explain how important he is to me,” I said, trying to balance the answer between what I needed Luke to think with something that was truly honest.

I saw a certain twitch in Luke’s body, the way his body had a minor shake. That’s the good thing about learning ASL, you learn to pick up on body language really well. I’ve learnt how to read people from the way their body reacts. I can positively say Luke is jealous.

“So, what, he’s your boyfriend or something?” Luke snapped. I could tell his reaction surprised even him, because he took a step back and looked slightly shocked.

“Or something,” I replied indifferently.

I swear to God I heard a snarl fall from his lips. I kid you not. Luke Hemmings is positively seething over the fact that Ashton I could potentially be a thing. I mean, Ashton and I hypothesized that Luke had some level of feelings for me, but I’m not even sure what to do with this kind of response.

“Whatever,” Luke said, rolling his eyes. He turned on his heel and marched away. Wow, I didn’t see that one coming. I had to tell Ashton this, and I had to tell him now, before my lesson started.

I quickly made my way over to the drums section where Ashton was, but Luke had beat me there. He was talking to Ashton in a low tone. I couldn’t hear anything he was saying, but he looked pissed. This was unexpected. Ashton was thinking the same thing I was, because his body language was caught between shock and realization.

His gaze caught mine, and when I went to shrug my shoulder, bringing my hands up to sigh what, Ashton shook his head minutely. His way of saying to stay out of it. I quickly fingerspelled OK and slipped away.

I forced myself to walk to Tony’s room at the back of the store. When I pushed the door open, Tony’s head snapped up. He was already sitting on the left of the room so he could talk to me.

“Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to come back to lessons. I knew you’d come back, couldn’t be away from my devilish good looks for long,” Tony teased, his eyes sparkling.

“Piss off,” I grumbled back, dropping my bass case onto one of the empty seats. “I’m still hating you from last time.”

“Last time? What did I do last time to make you hate me?” Tony asked. His tone was slightly hurt, and I realized that maybe my tone had come across a little harsher than it should have.

“I don’t hate you, per say,” I admitted, defeated. I dropped down into a seat and Tony followed my lead, gently placing himself on my left side.

“Is that about Luke?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I guess my expression gave it away because Tony just shook his head. “I thought there was something between you two?”

“Well thanks to your ridiculous encouragement I went striding out of our last lesson looking for Luke. And then I find him flirting with some other guy, and looking pretty damn into him if you ask me,” I huffed.

“What did this other guy look like?” Tony suddenly asked, seeming more interested than he had been before.

“I don’t know; kinda had some punk look going on. Dark clothes, leather jacket, colored streaks in his hair,” I recalled.

Tony started to shake his head, biting on his lip to stop from laughing. “What? What’s so funny?” I snapped.

“That wasn’t what you thought it was. I know for a fact. I’ve met that guy a shit ton of times since Luke started working here. He’s Luke’s best friend; his name is Michael. They’ve known each other basically their whole lives. Michael is like Luke’s Ashton,” Tony explained.

Of course he put it into terms in a way I would understand. “He’s like what Ashton is to me?” I asked.

“In a sense, yes. They’re best friends, they’ve spent their whole lives being friends. They pretty much flirt the same way that you and Ashton do,” Tony said.

“So you’re telling me I was jealous over nothing?” I asked in disbelief.

Tony nodded, still grinning at me. “You’ve got it bad for this guy, don’t you?”

I tried to turn away, but Tony still caught the blush on my cheeks. “Why not just go tell him that after the lesson? Seriously, this time just go up to him, tell him you’re into him, and then make out with him.”

“You’re an asshole,” I said, shaking my head but I still grinned anyway. “I can’t. Ashton and I have a plan going. I’m going to make him jealous so that he’s the one who makes the first move.”

Tony raised his eyebrow, a smirk crossing his lips. “I like your style, Calum Hood.” I grinned back, feeling proud. “Now, enough about Luke. You’ve been out for a week, which is precious time for us. Get your bass, and let’s get to work.”

Undoing the case, I grabbed my bass and let myself get lost in music for an hour. I let Tony ease me back into playing, since I had spent the last week brooding instead of actually focusing on my guitar.

Surprisingly, the lesson went really well. Today was focusing on how to feel and keep a rhythm going without being able to hear it. It was one of those days where Tony made me cover my left ear, so I could learn to do this without relying on my hearing. Sometimes I forget why I love playing bass so much. It was moments like these that reminded me of that love.

Tony signed done to me, indicating my lesson was over, and I pouted at him. Tony shook his head. “That pout may work on everyone else, but it doesn’t work on me,” he teased, grabbing the sheet music from the music stand and putting it back in a folder.

“Practice at home, punk,” Tony muttered fondly, ruffling my hair as he stood up. I could never get away with conning Tony into extending our lessons. Next time, I planned to tempt him with food. That usually always wins him over.

“One day I will win, and you’ll extend our lesson,” I complained, placing my bass back away again.

Tony kept himself to my right side and signed to me. His first sign was the sign for yes. In this instance, I knew it meant yeah more than yes. His second sign was to stick his two pointer fingers out, keeping his non-dominant hand stationary with his fist lined up with his sternum and his pointer finger pointing at me. He then used his dominant hand to bounce his fist on top of his non-dominant hand, pointing both pointer fingers at me. The sign for right. He rolled his eyes at me, completing the sarcastic tone of yeah right.

I flipped him off, too lazy to actually sign something back. I saw Tony throw his head back to laugh, and it made me grin. He then moved to my left side and patted me on the shoulder. “Try to stay out of trouble, yeah? My life feels empty when I’m not teaching you to play bass,” Tony teased, poking me in the side.

I grinned and giggled, poking Tony back. “Admit it, you miss me. Deep down, you love me,” I teased. Tony dropped his head to my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist and rocked us side to side.

“You know I do, baby boo. I miss you when you’re not around. I love you so much, please don’t leave me for so long ever again,” Tony replied dramatically, causing us both to dissolve into giggles.

It was at that moment I saw the flash of blonde hair disappear from the doorframe and the door to the lesson room slam shut.

“Was that Luke?” I asked in shock. Tony nodded against my neck, his hair rubbing against my cheek.

“Well, I’ll take that as a win then. An unexpected but welcomed twist,” I said proudly.

“What do you mean?” Tony asked, pulling away from me and looking me in the eye.

“That just worked out extremely well for the jealously plan. Today was the flirting day of the plan. I flirted with James when I walked in, and Ashton acted like my jealous boyfriend. And now it looks like you and I have a thing. So thank you for playing so nicely into my plan,” I grinned.

“You really are lucky I love you, Calum Hood,” Tony said, rolling his eyes again but pulling me into a hug. Tony and I had become close when I started my lessons. He was one of the few people in my life who really understood what I was going through. He never treated me like I was disabled or useless. That’s why I saw Tony as such a good friend.

“I know, I’m a very lucky man,” I answered, hugging Tony back. 

Tony pulled back and motioned to the door with his head. “Get out of here. Go win your man over.” I smiled happily and picked up my guitar case. I brought my hand up, palm flat and facing inward, my fingers hovering over my chin. I then moved my hand down to the middle of my chest with my palm facing upward; the ASL sign for thank you.

Tony nodded his head back at me, the informal way of saying you’re welcome. I slipped out of the room feeling lighter and happier than I have in weeks. Ashton was waiting for me just down the row.

When Ashton saw me his face lit up into a bright smile. He waited until I was close before he spoke up. “Well this has been a rather successful day, if you ask me.”

I smiled back. “It has been indeed. However, there’s one more thing I want to do.”

Ashton cocked his head to the side in question. I let my gaze move over to where I could see Luke rather angrily stacking music books. When I looked back at Ashton, he gave me an approving nod. He reached his hand out and I naturally handed him my guitar case.

I causally made my way over to Luke. His eyes snapped up to mine and he looked at me suspiciously. “What do you want?” Luke asked carefully.

“Oh, nothing important really. I just wanted to talk to you. Is that okay?” I asked, trying my hardest to keep my tone flirtatious. It seemed to work because Luke nodded.

“I really just wanted to say you looked extremely good today. I couldn’t help but notice how nicely those jeans you’re wearing shape your ass,” I said, acting as confident as I could.

“I-I-I… that- I mean… um, thanks,” Luke stuttered out. A dark blush crossed his cheeks and he averted his eyes to the floor. Success. 

I shrugged, giving Luke a smile. “Just thought you should know that you look hot today. Couldn’t take my eyes off of you from over there,” I motioned with my head to where Ashton was still standing.

Luke’s eyes widened and he looked at me in shock. “But-but-but… I thought you and… I thought there was something. I mean, I thought you and Ashton were, you know, like a thing?” Luke stammered.

God, he’s so adorable. I literally want him so bad it’s ridiculous. I shook my head no at Luke’s question. “Ashton and I? No, he’s my closest friend, but we’re not a thing.”

I saw some of the tension in Luke’s shoulders dissipate and a relieved look crossed his face. “Well that’s, um, that’s good to know.”

“I should get going. It was nice to see you again Luke. Really nice,” I added, making sure to slowly check him out as I did. I let my gaze hover on his ass. I wasn’t kidding, those jeans really did do wonders for his ass.

When I took a step away, I noticed that Luke checked me out too. He noticed my skin tight jeans and my ripped up shirt that showed off my muscles. I physically saw him gulp and saw his pupils dilate. How could I have been so oblivious? All the signs are there. He couldn’t be more into me if he tried. Oh, you’re going to wish you hadn’t been flirting with that Michael kid.

I took another step back, winked at him, and walked away. “Hey Calum?” Luke called after me. I turned around, keeping my left side to him. I raised my eyebrow at him, silently asking him what he wanted.

“I get it now; why everyone is all over you all the time,” Luke stated.

I raised both my eyebrows up this time, trying to play cool. Deep down, I was freaking out. Had Luke dawned onto our plan? Did he know what was really going on? Had he had enough of this game we were playing?

“You’re like perfect. You’re talented, smart, funny, good looking,” Luke said, blushing at the last words he said. “You’re everything I would- I mean, anyone would want.”

I preened at the words. Luke saw all those qualities in me. He was the first person to ever look past my disease to see what was underneath. I swear to God if he doesn’t snap soon and beg for me I’m going to lose my fucking mind.

“Well then, if anyone is interested in me, they should make a move. If I’m that perfect, someone is bound to sweep me off my feet pretty soon. Better get on that before it’s too late,” I flirted. With a final wink, I turned on my heel and headed for the front of the store.

I met up with Ashton and we walked out together. “Holy shit, Cal! Where did that come from? I’m so proud of you,” Ashton said, pulling me into a hug. I laughed, collapsing into his arms.

“I have no idea. I guess I just wanted to push him to the edge, you know? I’m already sick of waiting for him to break. I want him, Ash.”

Ashton pushed me into the passenger’s seat, motioning with his hands for me to give him the key. I handed them over willingly. Placing my bass in the back, Ashton jumped into the driver’s seat and grinned at me.

“After that move you just pulled, I give it a few days max before he breaks and he’s all over you. That was some serious flirting, bro. He looked like he wanted to jump you then and there,” Ashton giggled.

I rolled my eyes, punching him in the shoulder as he pulled the car out of the lot. “What did he say to you? I came to talk to you after our stunt before my lesson and I saw him talking with you.”

“I wouldn’t say talking; more like threatening. He warned me not to hurt you, as if he thought I actually would go out of my way to hurt you. He snapped, saying I wasn’t good enough for you and that you deserved better. I have to say I was impressed. For the fact he doesn’t know you like I do, he was extremely protective of you. I think you’ve got yourself a keeper,” Ashton said proudly.

I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. “You really think I’ll have him begging for me in a few days?” I asked hopefully.

Ashton nodded. “No doubt. His behavior today proved it. He was beyond jealous whenever anyone flirted with you, he threatened me to treat you right because he thinks the world of you, he fell apart when you flirted with him right before we left. A day or two more of our plan and he’s going to snap. He’ll be begging for you so bad he won’t even know what hit him.”

I smiled triumphantly. “Good to know. In fact, I’ve got an idea that might just send him spiraling off the edge.” With that I divulged my idea to Ashton. 

By the end of my spiel Ashton was full on grinning. Pride radiated off of him and I knew he approved of my idea. “That, Calum Thomas Hood, is the best idea I’ve ever heard in my life. Look at you, becoming the expert. I guarantee Luke won’t be able to keep his hands off of you.”

Finally, I was going to have Luke. All I had to do was go back to the store and launch the final phase of plan D.A.B. Oh, this was going to be good, I could feel it. Luke Hemmings, prepare to combust with desire.


End file.
